Page 92 of Fallen
Hot, sultry air stirred from her passage.
I took a step to follow but paused.
'Go, Anna. Find the area where we came in, slip inside a room, and hide. I will not be long.'
'Okay.'From the corner of my eye, Anna's small form turned and darted down the corridor, but I didn't dare turn my head to watch. Lilith, so focused on whatever seedy plan she'd devised, didn't seem to notice Anna's disappearance. With a small inward sigh of relief, I focused on my situation.
Besides, Anna has the silver pin with my ruby.She just needed to find a place to hunker down until I could deal with this unsavory problem.
I passed through the doorway into the shadowy area behind my throne. A filthy black boot draped over the arm of the chair.
Mychair.
My teeth ground together, but I marched around the dais of skulls and looked straight ahead. I would not give them the satisfaction seeing the anger on my face.
The vaulted ceiling, all black angles relieved by lava chandeliers every few feet, covered a room the size of Earth's football fields. Normally, it remained mostly. Parties and celebrations bored me now. Once, long ago, I loved the debauchery and delicious sins carried out in this room.
Currently, the area was packed with generals, lesser demons, imps, and even a few succubae. The only open spaces not filled with my people were areas of the floor where cutaways revealed small, glowing pools and rivers of lava flowing beneath the obsidian glass.
The low drone of conversation froze as all eyes fell on me. Only the burst of lava bubbles echoed in the quiet chamber.
I smiled at the crowd, not giving whoever sat on my throne the slightest hint of acknowledgement. "It seems there's been a party in my absence."
Dark eyes shifted uncomfortably to the chair behind me, then to Lilith standing to my left.
No one met my stare.
"Oh, darling," Lilith crooned from behind. "You've spent so much time on Earth, you've not only lost power, but you've also lost your army."
What?
"Enough of this farce." I spun on my heel, commanding the black ether to choke her where she stood. Darkness spread from where I stood. Slowly, as if it were black ink floating across water instead of sharp arrows flying through air.
Why is my power so weak?It was as if the essence of my being had suddenly drained.
Her laughter rang through the chamber.
The form sitting on my throne stirred and rose, the face now clear as I peered over Lilith's shoulder.
"Malachi?" My voice shook from anger and confusion. He'd always been my most trusted general, one of the first Fallen to join me.
His purple eyes shone with malice. "Enough, Lilith. Back to your place like the good little bitch you are."
Her throaty laughter stopped abruptly. She cast her gaze downward, then scurried and sat at the foot of thethrone.
"You bastard," I hissed, taking a step toward Malachi.
He flared his wings and raised his hand. "No."
My forward momentum stopped. I was trapped in an invisible cage.What. The. Fuck?
I hadn't felt panic in eons. I'd always been stronger than everyone around me.
And that arrogance has made me a fool.
"I loved you, Lucian, more than you can possibly comprehend." Malachi said, his voice conversational but flat. "I would've doneanythingfor you. But no, you've always preferred humans over your own kind."
"That's a lie. I—"
